THE TRAGEDY WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IF… – The families of four soldiers k-ill in the devastating Australian Army helicopter crash have made a chilling claim that is reigniting painful questions.
The families of four soldiers killed in a horrific army helicopter crash have told a Senate Inquiry the vehicle should never have been flying on the fateful night.
A father of a soldier killed in a catastrophic Army helicopter crash in the Whitsundays has told a Senate Inquiry investigating the tragic incident the MRH90 Taipan should never have been flying on the night of the fatal incident.
Captain Danniel Lyon died alongside co-pilot Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs during Exercise Talisman Sabre on July 28, 2023.
The crash occurred when their Taipan helicopter plunged into the ocean off Hamilton Island while flying in formation with three other helicopters.
A barge anchored at the site where a MRH 90 Taipan military helicopter crashed, lifts out the tail section. in the Whitsundays while carrying four Australians. Picture: Michaela Harlow
A Defence Flight Safety Bureau (DFSB) investigation concluded the primary cause of the crash was spatial disorientation.
DFSB investigators believe Captain Lyon and Lieutenant Nugent became disoriented for 21 seconds before impact.
Then, in the final moments, Captain Lyon rolled the aircraft to the right, diverting it from a potential collision course with Bushman 82.
But the families of the four men that died strongly believe authorities ignored warnings about crew fatigue, high workloads and equipment.
The Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee is holding a Senate Inquiry into the incident to determine the airworthiness assessments of the MRH-90 and equipment, Army Aviation’s compliance with regulations, investigation findings and whether a decision not to prosecute any matters arising from the incident was appropriate.
Retired Major Ian Wilson, the former lead test pilot, told the inquiry the accident was “completely foreseeable”.
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He said he had “exercised every internal and external avenue” to try and prevent the crash, while asserting the findings by the probe were “either not supported by material evidence in some places’, or “contradicted”.
Daniel Nugent told a Senate Inquiry into MRH90 Taipan Helicopter incident Australian Defence Force leadership and the Government knew the Taipan was a failed aircraft six years before the fatal crash. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
Fronting the inquiry, Lieutenant Nugent’s father Daniel Nugen said the Australian Defence Force leadership and Government knew the Taipan was a failed aircraft six years before the fatal crash.
Mr Nugent said reports identified the Taipan was unsuitable for special operations and a risk to safety, but the information was never acted upon.
He said government assessments described the helicopter as inefficient, expensive and unreliable, and that unreliability had fatal consequences.
“The aircraft should have been withdrawn from service, instead billions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent on a platform that should never have entered service,” he said.
“They identified the Taipan as a medium risk to aircrew safety, yet those risks were not addressed, even as the aircraft was pushed into even more complex and demanding flight profiles.”
Victims of the MRH-90 Taipan crash (from left) Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Captain Danniel Lyon, Corporal Alex Naggs and Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Laycock. Image: Supplied
Lieutenant Nugent’s partner Chadine White told the inquiry the reported sequence of fatigue and high workload was identified by their own unit, but were set aside before the fatal incident.
Ms White said the crew were among the Army’s very best and the fatal outcome was a result of systematic error, not human error.
She called on the Committee to establish the full truth of what happened to ensure accountability where the evidence supported it.
“Accountability has not been delivered, it has been diffused across process after process, none of which answers for the whole,” she said.
“My hope moving forward is that institutions learn from this, that they lead with the same integrity he demanded of himself.
“Anything less is an insult to his life and memory, and to those who remain in service, please do for them what was not done for him.”
Caitland Lyon told a Senate Inquiry her husband was exhausted doing four people’s jobs when he climbed into the aircraft before a fatal crash. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman.
Captain Lyon’s widow Caitland Lyon said her husband was exhausted doing four people’s jobs when he put his power helmet and climbed into the aircraft.
The mother of two said her husband was unaware the equipment he was wearing was deemed un-airworthy and potentially deadly by the Army’s own test pilots.
She said the Army ignored warning signs and nobody stopped the fatal exercise from going ahead.
“He trusted the army, his bosses, his instruments, just as he was trained to do, and he never came home,” she said.
“The least this community can do is truly find out why, independent of the controlling and self-interested actions of Defence, to determine proper accountability.”
Ms Lyon called for an independent military aviation authority to be established that could not be overruled or influenced by a senior chain of command.
